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Headshot Young Girl

Sungkwang Park

SEO24

Republic of Korea

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Challenge

The existence of a school lies within its students. In pursuit of obtaining a teaching certification in South Korea, I spent four years learning various educational theories to teach children. I studied education curriculums for subjects such as Korean, math, social studies, and science, along with exploring aspects of children's emotions and behavioral development. Many teachers in Korea, driven by passion, endure this challenging journey, passing teacher certification exams to embark on a career in education. They prepare for classroom management from the beginning of each semester and conduct extensive research for lesson planning. However, the reality of schools often diverges from what was learned in university. Tasks such as dealing with parental complaints, purchasing school supplies, or procuring funds from educational authorities to build school facilities become commonplace. In fact, teachers often engage in many duties unrelated to direct student education. These additional responsibilities not only diminish the passion for teaching but also contribute to the crisis many teachers face due to the decline in societal respect for their authority, known as "teacher's authority decline." Teaching students and providing guidance when they engage in improper behavior is intrinsic to education. However, nowadays, even offering advice to students who disrupt classes has become challenging. Moreover, excessive non-teaching tasks detract from teachers' time spent with students, undermining their sense of purpose and pride. Despite recent introductions of educational technologies like Google Workspace for Education, integration with Korea's existing education system, notably the "NICE" system, remains lacking. Consequently, many Korean teachers continue to grapple with overwhelming workloads. If this trend persists, the time spent between teachers and students will diminish, hindering efforts to build a better education system through close collaboration among teachers, students, and parents.

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